It works fine for me BUT if A1 (defined as TEXT) has "1234 " i.e. a trailing
blank, I get 0 for "ABCD-1234".

A1 formatted as number is O.K.

When you say it doesn't work, do you get 0 as a result?

"Fiona" wrote:


Hi
Is this formula limited to certain text types? I'm trying to get it to
search for example, coloumn B:B which contains references such as ABC-1234
against A1 which contains just 1234.
=COUNTIF(B:B,"*" & A1 & "*")
I cannot get it to work. If it has just the number only iy works fine.